Senior moments: Geriatric social workers mean the world to children of aging parents

When Rich Salley made the difficult decision to put his father into a nursing home in a suburb of Chicago, he knew he would need an advocate to help make sure he was OK. “I still work full time and I’m the only one of my brothers still alive,” Salley says. “When you have a

parent in a home, you worry about small things like cuts on their hands and marks on their face. My father is old and clumsy and walks with a cane so you don’t know when he is just bumping into things or when he’s actually being put into harm’s way.”

But Salley says Lauren, one of his father’s social workers, put all those fears to rest. “I’m not a religious person but this is God’s work,” Salley says. “She is so honest and open with me about my

father and his situation and she helps me with my own expectations. I know that she is in there fighting for him every day.”

Salley says he didn’t even realize he was looking for not only someone to check up on his father’s well-being, but also someone who could help him connect with his aging parent. “My father has Alzheimer’s in its beginning stages and he is slowly drifting away from me but there are some days when he just

wants to talk, just wants to connect,” Salley says.

And that’s when Salley appreciates his father’s social worker the most. “I’ve had some interesting experiences with senior homes in the area, rehab places, too,” he says. “I know people are overworked and it can be a bad job but sometimes, some people just move from room to room without making conversation.

Making it better

Park Ridge native Joan Yang has been a social worker since 2005. She earned her master’s degree in social work from the University of California and decided to stay in Los Angeles after she graduated. “I had worked with an agency while I was in school to be perfectly honest, I fell in love with the patients,” she says.

Plus, California is a unique place to work with seniors, according to Yang. “You have so many options that involve the outdoors,” she says. “I do a lot of the usual things like making sure they are placed in the correct facility and

making sure they’re taken care of but I can also do some unique things, like set up outdoor excursions or see to it that they get some time doing the things they love.”

Yang says that she currently works with a patient who was an avid fisherman when he was younger, so she’s set up monthly fishing trips for him and some of the other seniors in his residential community. “I just try to give them something to smile about,” she says.

Salley says his experiences support Yang’s claim. “I come from a family of riggers, guys who make a living moving

machinery around. We’re not exactly touchy-feely, as my ex-wife used to say,” Salley says. “But when you see your parent in pain? My dad’s someone who’s been hard as a rock his entire life and now he’s basically deteriorating in front of my eyes. And it’s heartbreaking. I have

a hard time living with it. But Lauren has been like an angel. She does so much. I’m not a religious guy, like I said, but sometimes I think God sent her to my family to say ‘See? I’m real. You should

have gone to church.’”

Job profile: Social workers

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Social workers help people solve and cope with problems in their everyday lives. One group of social workers, clinical social workers, also diagnose and treat mental, behavioral, and emotional issues.

Work setting: Social workers are employed in a variety of settings, including mental health clinics, schools, child welfare and human service agencies, hospitals and private practices. They generally work full time and may need to work evenings, weekends, and holidays.

Education: Most social workers have a master’s or bachelor’s degree in social work. Clinical social workers must have a master’s degree and two years of post-master experience in a supervised clinical setting. Clinical social workers must also be licensed in the state in which they practice. Social workers

must attend a school accredited by the American Council on Social Work.

Pay: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for social workers was $50,390 in May 2021.

Job outlook: Employment of social workers is projected to grow 12 percent through 2030, faster than the average for all occupations. Employment growth will be driven by increased demand for healthcare and social services but will vary by specialty, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. No specific stats for geriatric social workers were provided.